As Tan Man finished chanting his incantation, he summoned an enormous fissure in hell, far larger than the one he had summoned the first time. It opened silently behind Satoru Gojo in an instant.
At the same time, Tan Man used Evil Eye to block Satoru Gojo's perception of the cursed energy he had just released for Wailing, as well as his awareness of the fissure in hell behind him.
This allowed the fissure to intrude into the range of Satoru Gojo's Limitless without him being on guard.
This was the final killing move Tan Man had devised. The chain of preparations he had made with every ability at his disposal had served only to make Satoru Gojo lower his guard and attack with all his strength, exposing this one opening.
Tan Man had not let his guard down just because Satoru Gojo was only eight. He had already done everything he could think of, everything his current body could manage.
But Tan Man's calculations had their limits. He had accounted only for Satoru Gojo, overlooking the fact that this was not a duel to the death between the two of them alone, but a match watched by the other clans.
The members of the Three Great Families who were unaffected by Evil Eye could naturally see Tan Man unleashing Wailing with perfect clarity.
The head of the Gojo Clan, who had been watching the situation in the arena closely and knew his clan's inherited cursed technique inside out, reacted immediately.
The instant that enormous fissure appeared, a chill ran down the Gojo Clan head's spine.
He could clearly make out one detail: Satoru Gojo's expression showed no awareness of Wailing whatsoever.
Satoru Gojo's expression was not one of absolute confidence, of someone utterly unconcerned that anything could break through Limitless. Rather, his eyes seemed filled with nothing but hostility toward Tan Man, entirely oblivious to Wailing.
A chilling thought flashed through the Gojo Clan head's mind. Could this have been that Zenin brat Tan Man's real objective all along?
Although the Gojo Clan head did not know how far Tan Man could go, he had already made his decision. He instantly raised a hand toward Tan Man in the arena.
Tan Man, who was watching Satoru Gojo with complete focus and meticulously carrying out his plan, had no way of noticing the change at the sidelines. After all, he possessed Evil Eye, not Six Eyes, and did not have a full three-hundred-and-sixty-degree field of vision.
The Gojo Clan head's act of channeling cursed energy clearly startled Naobito Zenin and the Kamo Clan head beside him.
Neither had expected the Gojo Clan head to intervene in the match now.
The Kamo Clan head could not help asking, "Wait, what are you trying to do?"
Although he was a moment slower than the Gojo Clan head, Naobito Zenin had also sensed that Tan Man's next strike might truly threaten the Gojo Clan's Six Eyes.
For an instant, a thought flashed through Naobito Zenin's mind: if Tan Man could kill Satoru Gojo, should they simply slaughter everyone from the Gojo and Kamo Clans inside the Curtain, securing the Zenin Clan's future supremacy?
After all, once every last one of them had been killed, the victors would be the ones to tell the story.
Ogi realized this almost at the same time as his elder brother, Naobito Zenin. He, too, saw the Gojo Clan head move to unleash his cursed technique and shouted at Naobito Zenin.
"Brother!"
In that brief moment of hesitation from Naobito Zenin, the Gojo Clan head had already unleashed his cursed technique, Gas Manipulation Technique.
[Gas Manipulation Technique: Allows precise control over the air in a chosen area within the user's sight. Its consumption depends on the area's size and distance from the user. It can compress, strip away, or detonate air, including gases inside living targets.]
Naturally, the Gojo Clan head had not gone straight for the kill. After all, this was only a fight between members of the younger generation.
Even if Tan Man might threaten Satoru Gojo's life, that had not happened yet. Besides, the Zenin Clan could easily brush it off with the excuse that Six Eyes was simply too powerful.
And since Six Eyes was hailed as the strongest, there was naturally no reason to complain about an opponent using his full strength.
But if the Gojo Clan head chose to take Tan Man's life now, the entire nature of the incident would change. It would become a declaration of war by the Gojo Clan against the Zenin Clan.
It was precisely this interference from the Gojo Clan head that subjected Tan Man to tremendous pressure and a suffocating sensation, throwing off his aim as he summoned that monstrous, alien-like maw.
With its aim thrown off, it only bit through Satoru Gojo's entire right arm.
Blood and flesh splattered in an instant. Satoru Gojo's eyes were filled with confusion. Under Evil Eye's influence, he had perceived nothing whatsoever about this cursed technique.
Only the pain of his right arm being bitten off jolted him awake from Evil Eye's illusion.
Tan Man was already somewhat weakened. As the gas inside his body was gradually drawn out and the suffocating sensation intensified, his body began to buckle under the strain. He was on the verge of losing consciousness.
As Satoru Gojo let out a scream of agony, the atmosphere inside the Curtain turned murderous in an instant.
The fact that Tan Man had successfully injured Satoru Gojo clearly shocked every member of the Three Great Families inside the Curtain, including the three clan heads.
"What? He actually managed to hurt Six Eyes!" "Does that mean his cursed technique can break through Limitless?"...
Given the exceptional nature of what had happened, everyone from the Zenin Clan had already assumed a fighting stance to prepare for a possible clash. They were merely waiting for the order from their clan head, Naobito Zenin.
The Gojo Clan head immediately shouted that the match was over, and all his sorcerers prepared to rush forward to protect Satoru Gojo, the bearer of Six Eyes.
Their movements, however, were obstructed by the Kamo Clan members, whether deliberately or seemingly by chance.
The Kamo Clan head was wavering as well. He wanted to see the situation escalate further, whether that meant the Zenin Clan killing Satoru Gojo or the Gojo Clan declaring war on the Zenin Clan and launching an attack.
He was perfectly happy to watch from the sidelines and reap the benefits, so he did not want this incident to end so easily.
Naobito Zenin's expression was grave. In the end, he reached out and seized the wrist of the Gojo Clan head's hand-the one unleashing the cursed technique-and spoke in a low voice.
"Stop. In terms of the order of events, you interfered with the match first, and only then was Satoru Gojo seriously injured. You disrupted Tan Man's control over his cursed technique, leading to this outcome. Are you still going to keep going? Or do you really intend to kill Tan Man and go to war with the Zenin Clan right now?"
All three clan heads present knew Naobito Zenin was talking nonsense with his claim that the tragedy had resulted from the Gojo Clan head interfering with Tan Man's cursed technique.
But he was right about one thing. As members of the Three Great Families, they needed a legitimate justification for whatever they did, and they had to wait for an outcome before taking action based on it. Those were the rules.
The Gojo Clan head was caught in a dilemma as well. If he admitted that he had feared Tan Man would kill Satoru Gojo, it would mean shattering the "myth" of Six Eyes. But if he did not admit it, his sudden intervention could be interpreted as a declaration of war against the Zenin Clan.
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